Tuesday night’s matchup between Los Angeles Football Club and Cruz Azul momentarily turned ugly late in the game.
After LAFC had taken a 3–0 lead in the Concacaf Champions Cup Quarterfinal tilt at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, LA player Sergi Palencia was pelted by drinks thrown by Cruz Azul fans.
The crowd at BMO Stadium on Tuesday night was largely pro Cruz Azul. Getty Images The 30-year-old LAFC defender had dropped to the turf with an apparent injury when the cups — some full to the brim with liquid — came soaring toward him from people clad in blue and white in the packed stands.
Palencia was fortunately able to hobble away from the area before he was directly hit by any of the objects, but the trash nonetheless kept flying onto the turf for several seconds.
Eventually it stopped, and arena staffers as well as LAFC players helped clear the pitch.
LAFC used one goal from Son Heung-Min and two more from David Martínez to secure the 3–0 win in a match that featured plenty of chippiness.
Palencia, though, told the Los Angeles Daily News he was pumped for the outcome.
“The key is to suffer, to survive and to figure out a little bit how to play them and how to face them,” Palencia said. “And we did it really well, with Hugo saving a couple balls like usual. We found a really good play with Timmy [Tillman], Mathieu [Choinière] and Sonny and this changed the game for us.”
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